Town in Switzerland trials blockchain for voting

11 June 2018

Authorities of Zug, a Swiss town located in the canton of Zug, made an announcement last week that they start a pilot voting project that will combine polling functionality and ID verification system on one blockchain platform.

The electronic voting test is scheduled to take place from June 25 through July 1 within the framework of the town’s interest in wider implementation and adoption of blockchain technologies. The voting system will be linked to the citizens’ identity verification pilot project already held in the town.

Last July the government of Zug unveiled its plans to start ‘uPort’ project, which is based on the Ethereum blockchain, for converting identity data of select citizens into a digital format on the blockchain platform. The test was launched last November and currently lists more than 200 residents.

Using their ID data on the blockchain, the residents will participate in the voting campaign and cast their votes through that combined system. Meantime, the town authorities say that the project has a consultative nature and its results will not be binding.

According to the project authors its main purpose is to analyze the security factors of that voting system and figure out if the system may ensure the key parameters like immutability, testability and traceability along with the privacy protection.